Alternatives to compulsory redundancy

When redundancies are proposed, within a school or trust, alternative options should be explored to avoid compulsory redundancies before any dismissals take place. Ultimately, these may allow you to retain employees, as well as avoid the costs associated with redundancy, which can be substantial, especially where the employee is entitled to their pension being released.

Reviewing your employees who are agency/support staff, on fixed-term contracts and temporary hours may help to reduce the cost of redundancy payments. There may be instances where employees at risk are happy to reduce to part-time hours or job share with another colleague. Alternatively, some employees from the pool at risk may be interested in volunteering for redundancy.

Where schools are part of a multi-academy trust, or where the local authority is the employer, redeployment to other opportunities in sister schools or the local authority itself can be considered. In addition, employees at risk may be interested in being redeployed within the school where there are suitable vacancies.

It is also worth considering whether bumped redundancy is an appropriate option for you. ‘Bumped redundancy’ is the process of moving a potentially redundant employee into another role and instead, dismissing the employee that currently holds that role. Whether it is appropriate to go down this route will depend on a number of factors, including how different the two jobs are; length of service; salary levels; and the redundancy costs of those potentially affected.

If you’re looking for further advice about redundancies or would like to learn more about our model policies and letters, along with relevant training, please talk to us.